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Elizabeth86
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I got really bored with planning meals so now I'm doing Hello Fresh three nights a week. All I have to do is choose the three meals I want from the 12 choices. The other nights are tacos, salads, or maybe pizza. Now when I go grocery shopping I only need breakfast foods, fruit, milk, and snacks basically. It's been a mental break for me from the meal planning and big shopping.

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I got really bored with planning meals so now I'm doing Hello Fresh three nights a week. All I have to do is choose the three meals I want from the 12 choices. The other nights are tacos, salads, or maybe pizza. Now when I go grocery shopping I only need breakfast foods, fruit, milk, and snacks basically. It's been a mental break for me from the meal planning and big shopping.

That sounds like a great plan!

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Tonight - pork chops with a spicy chow-chow and sweet potato creamy salad (like potato salad, but much better)

 

Saturday - sesame beef lo mein (with enough left over for lunch the next day)

 

Sunday - Italian chicken with fregola sarda and kale

 

Monday - Meyer lemon bucatini, with maybe some leftover chicken.  A salad on the side.

 

Tuesday - butternut squash ravioli with a sage/brown butter sauce

 

Wednesday - Vegetable lo mein (leftover noodles from the package on Saturday with all the random bits of veggies from previous dishes)

 

Thursday - pizza

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This week has been:

Sloppy joes and green beans 
Ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus 
Pot roast w/carrots, potatoes, celery
Roasted cod, asparagus, and tomatoes
Chicken baked with a topping of parmesan and panko with a salad 

We also subscribed to HelloFresh for a few months. We aren't doing it currently, but I did like many of the recipes, and kept them to incorporate into our rotation. They were a little on the pricy side for us, but I figure it was still worth it because my dh made them (not me, yay!), each shipment we got gave dh a couple more recipes/techniques to add to his repertoire, and now I can easily pick up the needed ingredients for some of their meals at the store inexpensively. The chicken coated in panko/parm was originally a HelloFresh meal. 
 

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I got really bored with planning meals so now I'm doing Hello Fresh three nights a week. All I have to do is choose the three meals I want from the 12 choices. The other nights are tacos, salads, or maybe pizza. Now when I go grocery shopping I only need breakfast foods, fruit, milk, and snacks basically. It's been a mental break for me from the meal planning and big shopping.

 

I'd love to try this, but I'm too picky.  (my family is picky too)

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I am finishing up our last two Hello Fresh meals and won't be getting any more. They just don't fit into our healthy eating plan. So now I have to go back to meal planning. So far I have planned:

 

Hello Fresh hake & couscous

Hello Fresh sweet potato soup

Beefy American Goulash

White bean chicken chili

Chicken noodle soup

Taco salads (either beef or lentils)

Tuna pasta casserole

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I just got home from the store and I'm avoiding putting away the groceries. :) Here's what I've planned -- 

 

Pasta Tutto Giardino (rotini with vegetables in a creamy sauce)

Chicken Tikka Masala + basmati rice

Vegetable Korma + basmati rice

Malai Kofta (maybe -- seems overly ambitious to me at the moment)

Curried Peanut Soup

 

+ salad every night

 

We stopped at the Indian grocery and got some frozen breads and new chutneys, hence the prevalence of Indian-themed entrees. My goal is to use up the chutneys rather than have them hang around the fridge for months as we usually do. So I'm going to cook a bunch of Indian food this week and next week. 

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I just got home from the store and I'm avoiding putting away the groceries. :) Here's what I've planned --

 

Pasta Tutto Giardino (rotini with vegetables in a creamy sauce)

Chicken Tikka Masala + basmati rice

Vegetable Korma + basmati rice

Malai Kofta (maybe -- seems overly ambitious to me at the moment)

Curried Peanut Soup

 

+ salad every night

 

We stopped at the Indian grocery and got some frozen breads and new chutneys, hence the prevalence of Indian-themed entrees. My goal is to use up the chutneys rather than have them hang around the fridge for months as we usually do. So I'm going to cook a bunch of Indian food this week and next week.

Mmm dh and I love Indian food, but thw kids not so much

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Sunday = smashed potatoes + vegetable (this week sauerkraut) + sausages

Monday = cooked potatoes + meat + vegetable

Tuesday = bean dish

Wednessday = rice with chicken (any part) and grilled vegetables

Thursday = Monday

Friday = baked potatoes, fish, vegetables

Saturday = Pasta / take away (tomorrow take away)

 

The vegetables are on rotation, and depending of the season, availability, and price.

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Ugh, planning. The kids have something to do every single night next week. But I'll try.

 

Tonight is Junk Food Friday. We always do frozen whatever on paper plates - no prep, no dishes. Pizza, fish sticks, potato skins and taquitos.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to try this rigatoni with meat sauce stuff that doesn't have tomatoes in it. I googled for something to use leftover penne pasta, leftover cooked ground beef, and a half bag of shredded carrots in, and that popped up.

 

Sunday, who knows. DH can figure out something to grill.

 

Monday, probably Leftover Who Knows.

 

Taco Tuesday. Meat is precooked, just need to cook the dry beans.

 

Wednesday, beef stew? I have frozen stew meat already. Just need veggies.

 

Thursday, fried rice? DS has a hockey game an hour away that night, so I guess that night will depend on who is going to the game. Maybe just PB&J. Sometimes I wish we could eat McD's like normal people.

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Tonight is date night, DH and I are going out and kids are having frozen pizza at home. Although if I am not up to going out DH will bring home take out for us.

Tomorrow is blue and gold so we are eating there.  It is supposed to be hot dogs, chicken strips, and "carnival foods".  I think I may have a back up at home, but I am not sure what.

Sunday is birthday brunch for DS and DD and I let them plan the menu.  We are having quiche, monkey bread, fondue w/ pretzels, sausage links, and key lime and peanut butter pies for dessert.

Monday is homemade pizza.

Tuesday is Tacos.

Wednesday is DD's birthday and she want McDonald's fries and 5 Guys burgers.

Thursday night is roast, potatoes, and carrots.

 

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I like to cook, but I have a heck of a time trying to figure out what to make.  Which is probably dumb, but it's true! 

 

And my family is no help in that department. 

 

This is me.  And my family.  I ask for ideas for dinner and they're all like... whut? huh?  

 

Or my husband will say that it's been a long time since we've had lamb and I'll have to say again that it's been a long time since lamb fit into our grocery budget.

 

And the boy will ask for tuna casserole or chicken pot pie which I can only manage once a month because no one else likes them.  

 

I try to enter our dinners on google calendar so I can scroll back and see what we've made.  It also helps with managing leftovers, so I'm not saying "how many days has that pot roast been in the fridge?"

 

Tonight we're having sandwiches: turkey, roasted red peppers, pesto, provolone. Basically grilled cheese with other stuff.

 

Tomorrow will be salmon cakes and an experiment: homemade crab rangoon.

 

Sunday... leftover extravaganza?  Sunday is a tough day for me to cook. 

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I'm sick so Dh is doing the shopping tonight. I ran out to the bank earlier this am before my kids left for a roadtrip and snagged a frozen pizza so he won't have to go after work tonight. 

It's a treat since dd is dairy-free so we don't eat pizza anymore (hates the non/fake cheese kind). 

 

I have been adding new recipes to our list over the past year and a half as we are trying to eat more healthfully and also taking out dairy (although we do have cheese on tacos--she just has avocado). 

 

Here's a list of things we make, some dairy-free, some not:

 

instant pot pea soup

instant pot SW Chicken soup

chicken and rice or chicken noodle soup

turkey chili (sometimes I throw in black beans)

a friend's special, fussy chili

standard bean and ground beef chili

 

spag--with meatballs, or with sausage in the marinara

 

Shrimp creole

honey lime shrimp

shrimp alfredo

shrimp fried rice

 

hamburgers

tacos--soft or hard

fajitas

chicken fajitas with a special marinade

 

pork roast

pulled pork

Blts

ribs (I made them in the Instant Pot last time--not bad, and didn't take all day lol)

 

chicken with bagged, steamed veggies (breasts just made on the stove) or with stuffing or with wild rice (depending if we are cutting carbs a bit)

pounded chicken in panko (like schnitzel) with curry sauce (See Makenna Gott's youtube video on fake Coco's chicken)--it's pretty salty so we only have it once in a while

grilled chicken on skewers (dh does it with bbq sauce)

 

SW salad--basically marinated chicken in a salad made with black beans, lettuce, tri colored peppers, salsa, avocado, red onion with a smokey paprika dressing--omg I love this stuff

pasta salad (used to put cubed mozz in it but now just shredded chicken)--rotini with grape tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, cukes, black olives and Italian dressing. More of a summer meal

 

Beef stew in the crockpot or on the stove

 

baked potatoes and salad--I offer bacon to crumble, shredded cheese, ranch dressing, butter or sour cream

 

Pizza

 

steak sandwiches

steak

lamb kabobs made with veggies on skewers (just at Easter!)

 

I think that's nearly everything we serve around here! lol 

 

 

Edited by Chris in VA
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I shopped  on Wednesday for the week--let's see if I can remember the meals:

 

Wed: Spicy White Chicken Chili

Thurs: ramen and General Tso's chicken--trying the grocery store deli's chicken (it was okay)

Fri: stromboli (rolled up pizza basically--one pepperoni, one just ham and mozzarella no sauce)

Sat: make your own soup or sandwich (then heading out to an event with appetizers and desserts)

Sun: Costco panko chicken nuggets and tater tots, salad or fruit

Mon: beef tacos

Tues: spaghetti with marinara (make the marinara in the crockpot), salad

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I don't plan. I go to the store and see what looks good and is on sale, buy that, and then think about how to use it in meals.

Yesterday they had asparagus for an unbeatable $0.97/lb. Which means we will eat lots of asparagus over the next few days.

Yesterday: grilled asparagus, salmon, potatoes

Saturday: chicken, asparagus, rice

Sunday: lamb curry with fresh bread from the international food store

Also will make make:

asparagus quiche

cream of asparagus soup (I do that on a  night DH is not home because he does not like cream soups)

 

This week, we had:

hearty vegetable soup with beans

vegan curry with chick peas, sweet potato, and broccoli

shakshuka

 

Next week, I might make:

gnocchi with bell pepper salad (both on sale at Aldi today)

frittata

pasta with salmon in white wine cream sauce

 

Edited by regentrude
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I realized that the Hello Fresh app gives me access to all of the recipes they use ... so sometimes I ship for and prepare those without buying their service.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

Most of the "box" meal services do the same. I spent most of yesterday looking at meals on blue apron and hellofresh. Found a few I want to try that I HAVE all the stuff for. 

 

 

I don't meal plan, really. Whatever sounds good the night before or that day. I just keep stuff on hand to be able to fix meals without planning. 

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I’m afraid mine may not be very helpful. We have to stick with a bland diet here so we’re having lots of rice and potatoes.

 

Tonight is a stir fry with tofu on white rice and well cooked veg, no oil added. I was going to wing some kind of peanut sauce, but without the no-no ingredients it will probably end up smooth peanut butter thinned out with warm water and add in some soy sauce. And some ginger maybe? Or a pinch of asafoetida? It’s a work in progress.

 

I’ve also got a fennel risotto with peas, arborio vegetable soup, seitan (homemade) and mashed potatoes with green beans, pancakes, pumpkin soup, and tofu “egg†salad on white bread with a yogurt based dressing to bind it and oil free baked potato wedges with peas.

 

All of my favorite vegetables are out and the variety is down so the upside is that this is going to be easy on my grocery budget! :)

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tonight: Bhindi Masala with roasted sweet potatoes and green beans

Saturday: Creamy broccoli soup and almond flour bread

Sunday: Spicy tofu vegetable stir fry

Monday: Thai chickpea peanut burgers with sweet potato fries

Tuesday: Smashed black bean green chili taquitos

Wednesday: Sweet potato sushi burritos w/ miso wasabi mayo

Thursday: Japanese takeout

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I’ve also got a fennel risotto with peas, arborio vegetable soup, seitan (homemade) and mashed potatoes with green beans, pancakes, pumpkin soup, and tofu “egg†salad on white bread with a yogurt based dressing to bind it and oil free baked potato wedges with peas.

 

Homemade seitan is so good. How do you prepare it? Our family likes the seitan piccata in Veganomicon (it's a lemon/caper/olive sauce over the seitan) and we always serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans. But that's not part of a bland diet probably. 

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The Whatevers sounds good. What's in it?

It's an old family recipe that consists of whatever they can find to eat :lol:.

 

It's different from leftovers because I really don't care what it is. My guys aren't huge leftover fans, so leftover night isn't a favorite. But they love whatevers night :D.

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Homemade seitan is so good. How do you prepare it? Our family likes the seitan piccata in Veganomicon (it's a lemon/caper/olive sauce over the seitan) and we always serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans. But that's not part of a bland diet probably.

Totally not, but it sounds really good! I don’t own Veganomicon, but it’s on my list to buy.

 

When everyone’s digestive systems are functioning normally, we have seitan lots of ways. I like to make cutlet type pieces to put on the grill. Isa has a recipe in her cookbook, “Isa Does It†that grills chickpea seitan and serves it with a warm mustard potato salad and a green veg (maybe asparagus?). The chickpea seitan cutlets also work really well ground up in the food processor for tacos or spaghetti. Actually, “Isa Does It†has several seitan recipes that are very good.

 

Field Roast put out a cookbook late last year that’s pretty much all seitan. I own it, but haven’t tried it out yet. I had planned to, but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

 

We also smoke seitan on the grill after baking/steaming since the simmering never works for me. We make this recipe (http://holdthepigskin.blogspot.com/2014/09/bbq-smoked-vegan-brisket.html).

 

Currently, I’m using this recipe (http://chezrache.com/2011/10/seitan-gyros-recipe/) altered a bit to drop the lemon zest and rosemary and add in poultry seasoning. The original recipe is meant for gyros and they were fantastic both as a sandwich and as part of a grain bowl. I think this week we’ll simplify the recipe further so it’s a little more plain, slice the seitan, and heat up in a non-stick skillet. I have some veg broth that I’ll maybe thicken up a bit as a gravy for those of us who are healthy.

 

I had been planning on using a Chicago Diner recipe for a corned beef style seitan for reubens next month, but now it kind of depends on how long the bland diet thing had to last. And of course there’s seitan as sausages, brats, holiday roasts, and pepperoni. :D

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